Top Swaps! Ten Of Our Favorite Coyote-Swapped ’Stangs

Engine swaps are nothing new. Often Ford fans would swap out smaller engines in favor of more displacement. With the arrival of electronic fuel injection, the concept of swapping injected engines into older Fords became attractive. When modular engines hit the scene, swapping these overhead-cam powerplants was an exotic endeavor.

However, with the arrival of the Coyote 5.0-liter engine and Ford Performance’s supporting Controls Pack PCMs and wiring harnesses, the idea of swapping the cutting-edge V8 into just about any older Ford became a mainstream idea.

Over the years we have seen a lot of cool Coyote swaps; but in recent times the quality of these combinations seems to get better and better. To celebrate some of these great cars, we put together a non-scientific list of some of our favorites. The idea was to showcase a variety of Mustang model years and levels of modification. Variety, after all, is the spice of life.

We understand that you may have your own personal favorite swap cars that we may not be aware of or could have overlooked. Feel free to let us know about those cars, as we are always looking for great rides to feature. In the meantime, however, we present 10 of our favorite Coyote-swapped ’Stangs of the moment.

For most people swapping in a Coyote engine is purely a fun endeavor. It is tough to beat the performance value proposition. Likewise, it is simply cool to have a Coyote underhood. When it comes toPower by the Hourowner Jake Long, the motivation was twofold—fun and business.

“Being in the performance industry, we naturally came upon the Coyote engine doing installs and upgrades for others. After seeing the potential it had, it was an easy decision to whip one up for the Cobra,” Frank Perdomo of Power by the Hour told us. “Originally the car had a built 4.6-liter Four-Valve in it with a custom PBH twin-turbo system, so the goal was to bring that combo back but with a Coyote. Things evolved and what we did is turn the project into the test bed for our Coyote-swap products; first our naturally aspirated accessory bracket kit and later the supercharged version. We recently used this car to put the 6R80 in and develop our 6R80 control packs. It will continue to be our test bed for even more products soon to debut.”

As you might expect, the swap was no big deal for the team at Power by the Hour. They not only have the technical know-how, but their aforementioned line of Coyote-swap products.

We did not want to do a race car, but more into a triple threat. A car great for the street, that can lay it down at the strip, and sneak away to the autocross for some fun.—Frank Perdomo, Power by the Hour

“We did not want to do a race car, but more into a triple threat. A car great for the street, that can lay it down at the strip, and sneak away to the autocross for some fun,” Frank said. “The shock valving has really presented the biggest challenge so far. This must come as a surprise looking at all we have changed but it really has been the one thing that took some getting used to. Thanks to the team atMaximum Motorsports they really helped us get it to the right spot and the car is running great now.”

While the main motivation for this swap may have been product development, the results are pretty fun as well.

“It is docile at cruise and fun (scary) on the throttle,” Frank added. “We have over 700 rear-wheel horsepower in it on E85 with an 18-inch wheel package. The drag radials can get some traction on the street but if you do not go into select shift and down shift the 6R80 manually look out. The PCM likes to drop two gears in auto mode and that can put it well into the power.”

It will be fun to see what other parts this VMP-boosted SN-95 picks up a long the way.

There was a time when modular swaps were the rage for Fox Mustangs, but times have changed. Mod swaps are still cool, but the Coyote is definitely the swap of the moment, which influenced the direction of DeShannon Ike Hart’s Fox project.

“I always had a love for newer technology in old-school rides,” DeShannon said. “My first plan was to install an ’03-’04 Cobra Terminator engine, but a buddy that worked at a local Ford dealer recommended a Coyote swap. I had not considered the thought of a Coyote swap but I was definitely intrigued. After some discussion on cost and estimated time of delivery I was sold and set out to gather everything I needed for the swap.”

After amassing all the necessary hardware, DeShannon farmed out the swap to a shop, so his biggest challenge was playing the waiting game. However, upgrades like this are definitely worth the wait.

“I went from a 500-rear-wheel-horsepower, supercharged pushrod engine to a naturally aspirated Coyote engine, which only had long-tube headers, a cold air intake and a tune,” DeShannon said. “The Coyote engine was an amazing improvement, the power and the throttle response was unbelievable. The NA Coyote felt faster than the previous setup, it pulled harder and always kept a smile on my face.”

I kept the car NA for about three to four months before adding the D-1SC ProCharger.—DeShannon Ike Hart

About the time that smile started to fade a bit, DeShannon took the car to a new level withProCharger’s Coyote-swap blower kit.

“I kept the car NA for about three to four months before adding the D-1SC ProCharger and now the throttle response is exhilarating and traction on street tires does not exist,” he added. “The car is a beast and extremely fun to drive.”

They say that when life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade. Obviously, when something bad happens, it might be hard to think of a silver lining, but in the case of Cameron Page’s S197, a broken Three-Valve inspired him to make the leap to a Coyote, but that was just the beginning.

“I broke a rod back in early June of this year with a wastegated, ProCharged Three-Valve. The car at the time was making way too much power for the stock internals to hold, let alone having 200,000 miles,” Cameron said. “When it finally went I was searching whether to build a Three-Valve, which was gonna cost a lot of money to get where I wanted, or take the plunge and go Four-Valve Coyote.”

As we have documented here, Coyote swaps are quite a trend, but few people have taken their swaps quite this far, which garnered our attention. Cameron decided to gut a wrecked 2016 Mustang GT and add that vaunted interior to his S197 as well.

“After thinking a couple weeks and looking at the common swaps people were doing, I knew I wanted something different. That difference was a full swap including the full interior, dash, seats, and so on,” he added. “So after finding a great deal locally on a 2016 auto car with less than 1,600 miles I knew what I wanted to do with just about the same money. Having built a bunch of race cars out of our little Alabama shop with my dad, I figured this would be a great project since we hadn’t worked or built anything in years.”

Better yet Cameron wanted to turn this car into a father-son project. He and his dad stripped every wire out of his car, cut out the 2016 firewall and swapped it into the 2005. They revamped the brakes and fabricated new dash supports. The only thing they outsourced was the re-wiring job. For that duty, they turned to a Ford technician pal.

“After a few months of working at night in between our schedules, waiting on parts, and money here and there we had a finish running car. To our knowledge it is the first and possibly only full S197 to S550 swap,” Cameron said. “Of course motors and running gear have been swapped but probably not full wiring harness and interior also, which we take pride in doing it all ourselves.”

It’s amazing! I had never actually rode in a Coyote car until this one. The power blew me away.—Cameron Page

It was a time-consuming process, including a week of just tracing wiring diagrams to sync up the few stock wires with the new harness. In the end, this immense project proved far more satisfying than simply rebuilding the Three-Valve.

“It’s amazing! I had never actually rode in a Coyote car until this one,” Cameron enthused. “The power blew me away. Sadly to say after everything I spent on my Three-Valve it wouldn’t be in the same league as this car with simple bolt-ons. And the car is smooth with a lot better gas mileage.”

The Coyote engine truly did reset our expectations for a performance engine and Cameron’s swap does the same for our concept of a Coyote swap.

Brothers can influence each other in many ways, but when Nick Rolocut’s bro tossed him the keys to his new ride, his Cobra was destined to take on a completely different personality.

“My brother bought a 2011 GT in 2012, and it was easily the most fun, best-sounding all around car I have driven,” Nick said. “I used to be a huge small-block, SN-95 guy, but I was always working on it and did not stray far from the shop. So after some unfortunate bad luck with the red ’94 Cobra, I had to start over, and Coyote was the plan from day one.”

Once he set his mind on the swap, it came together fairly easily. It was only his choice of intake manifolds that put up a bit of a fight.

“Having built and taken apart a few cars, it was a fairly simple swap,” Nick explained. “Lots of planning and experience made it smooth. The biggest issue was finding a hood that would fit with the Cobra Jet intake. I bought four hoods in one week to see if they would fit and what one looked best.”

The Cobra Jet not only looks great, but it is built to scream at the top of the tach, and that’s just where Nick loves to rev his Coyote swap.

“There is literally nothing more fun than pulling to 8,000 rpm over and over and over again being unbelievably smooth in doing so,” Nick added. “At 3,000 to 4,000 rpm just cruising there are no vibrations or any engine hiccups. It’s just smooth as glass. With the way I set up the suspension with control arm relocation brackets and the big 315/35 Toyo radials, spinning is not an issue at all. It hooks and goes from any speed.”

Being able to put that newfound power down has to make this car a real thrill to drive.

At the 2016 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, an underlying trend was the presence of Coyote engines under the hood of classic Mustangs. One of the most insane examples of this phenomenon is the Vicious Mustang, which features a compound-boosted Coyote under its custom hood.

“We always like to stay current with our engine combos for our builds,” Bill Dunaway, General Manager/Buyer at Timeless Kustoms, said of choosing a Coyote for the project. “The biggest challenge for us was space, as it goes away in a hurry with this swap.”

This isn’t just any Coyote swap, however. To live up to its mean moniker, Vicious received a built engine based on a Ford Performance block filled rugged reciprocating bits from Manley. It is topped by Voodoo heads from the Shelby GT350 fitted with high-lift cams from Comp and the timing chain system is augmented with all the goodies from MMR.

The car recently hit the chassis dyno and made well over 1,000 horsepower at the rear wheels right off the bat, which is just nuts. With more tuning, there’s no telling what the ceiling is on this insane, compound-boost combination.

“The Coyote engine is a great powerplant,” Bill added. “You can make a ton of power and still be reliable.”

Powerful and reliable, the Vicious Mustang definitely lives up to its name.

One of the first New Edge swaps we laid eyes on, Calvin Atwell’s car made the move to modern 5.0 power after he added another horse to his stable.

“In the summer of 2010, I ordered a 2011 5.0 as a daily driver, I started modifying it and with basic bolt-ons and suspension upgrades it went 11.20s. I was impressed by the new 5.0s; they are just awesome engines, they respond to upgrades well. Wanting to take my 2002 to the next level, I knew it would have to be Coyote-based,” Calvin explained. “Two-Valves and Four-Valves are just so expensive to build,–and the Coyotes are just so impressive out of the crate–so it was a no-brainer for me. I put my 2011 back to stock and I started buying parts for the Coyote swap.”

The performance per dollar of the Coyote engines is undeniable. Likewise, it’s hard to argue that the modular-powered SN-95 and New Edge ’Stangs might be the ideal vessels for the transplant.

The car’s a blast to drive, around town It’s like driving a stock car until you step on the gas.—Calvin Atwell

“The swap is really straight-forward as far as getting the motor in the car, uses a lot of the same components as a 4.6 so you really don’t need a whole lot of custom parts,” Calvin explained. “I would say the worst would be the wiring, which really isn’t that bad. I built this car in my garage on weeknights and weekends. A friend of mine, Ronnie Reynolds, had done two Coyote swaps before I started mine, so he came up and did the wiring and set up the fuel system. Rev Auto got the factory gauges to work and did the tuning. The VMP blower was a true bolt-on kit. VMP even swapped out the ’11-’14 heat exchanger parts for ’03-’04 parts so it would all fit in my ’02 GT.”

As a result, the TVS-blown Coyote swap turned Calvin’s Mustang into an amazing street/strip machine.

“The car’s a blast to drive, around town It’s like driving a stock car until you step on the gas. I drive this car everywhere. It is a 100-percent street car. It made 736 rear-wheel horsepower and 605 lb-ft of torque on E85 and has run a 9.5 at 145 mph,” Calvin enthused.

A car that brought a clean, understated swagger to the glitzy SEMA Show floor was the Vapor 1965 Mustang built byThe Roadster ShopforEaton. What began as a straightforward Coyote-swap Mustang became a showcase for the Edelbrockblower, which employs Eaton’s TVS rotor technology.

“The concept for the car was to build a ’65 Mustang as if it were being built today with modern tools, engineering and product development techniques; but maintaining the essence of the original design,” Marc Berger, of AXIS Business Advisory Services, said. “We actually had a normally aspirated Ford Performance Coyote Aluminator motor for this project that put out a little over 500 horsepower. During the car’s development many of the newer projection cars were being delivered with power plants producing in excess of 600 horsepower. We were fortunate enough to work with Edelbrock on a supercharged low-profile Coyote package for this car that produced 785 horsepower on a stock tune.”

Owners of newer Mustangs don’t have to perform as much surgery to swap in the modern 5.0, but fortunately The Roadster Shop is more than capable of doing the necessary work.

“I think the biggest challenge was fitting the modern motor into the space we had available in a ’65 shell,” Marc explained. “We removed the shock towers consistent with the modern chassis developed by the Roadster Shop for this project. The other issue was overall height, since we didn’t want to have a giant, induction-style hood. The new motor was developed with a low-profile supercharger that allows it to be used in applications like this.”

Even without the towers, the blown Coyote really fills up Vapor’s engine compartment, but it does fit under a flat hood thanks to that low-profile supercharger.

It’s hard to argue with the classic lines of a Fox Saleen. Combine that car with the one-two punch of a Coyote swap and a VMP TVS, and you have a car that bridges decades of Mustang passion into one hatchback. That’s what Parker S. Golightly has put together.

“I built a basic 308-cube small-block Ford with the GT-40 top end and ran into a rod-bolt failure after about 100 miles, so I started building a 347 stroker had it all complete and ready to go in the car,” he said. “Then I got the Coyote-swap bug and sold all my small-block stuff and dove head first into the swap.”

While the swap has become well supported by the aftermarket, there are a lot of aspects of the car that still needed to be addressed. Doing the work on your own can still eat up a lot of hours, so Parker spread it out over time. Then he turned to VMP to dial in the calibration.

“In my line of work I’m gone 20 days a month, so trying to get around to working on it in my 10 days home and spend time with my loved ones made it tough and it took a while to get everything wrapped up,” Parker said. “After the car sat for a year being ‘untunable,’ Alex ‘YOLO’ Flores over at VMP got all the bugs worked out in a two-day remote session and now the car is running better than ever.”

Parker says his car now provides “worry-free enjoyment,” which is a happy byproduct of swapping a new engine complete with a factory-style wiring harness.

“Ever get in your car and not have to worry about it starting and not leaving you stranded? Aside from the fact the car got 27-28 mpg when it was naturally aspirated, once the car was done I would have had no issue taking the car on a cross-country trip and not think twice about it,” he added. “The biggest pay-off is when someone messages me telling me how my swap influenced them to keep going when they felt like giving up on their swap/build, or when I pop the hood and people can’t believe what’s under the stock hood.”

Confession. Your author was never a huge fan of the two-tone Fox GT. I still remember people paint-matching their gray ground effects back in the day. That said, Anthony McDaniel’s 1993 GT is just so damn clean–right down to the super-sano ProCharged Coyote under the hood.

“Seeing that many talked about and completed the swap, I figured I’ll give it a shot making mine look much cleaner,” Anthony said. “Honestly the stand apart from others mindset that I persist inspired me to do so.”

With a smoothed engine compartment, hidden wires and even a painted blower, Anthony’s car definitely looks cleaner than your average Coyote swap. To get to this point he turned to professionals to perform the swap.

“Being that this build mirrored my personality I had Manir Karim over at Our Dream Auto Museum and Restorations of Mooresville, North Carolina, square me away, as I am always out of state working, and a build like this, with my time, would easily take five or more years to complete,” Anthony explained. “Robert Ranucci over at Powercurve Motorsports hooked me up with an awesome tune, and J Bear over at SRI Performance supplied much needed parts when asked.”

The end result is one stunning Fox that is, as you might expect, a lot of fun to drive.

“The setup amazes me so much that when driving I tend to shout out, ‘Wooooo,’” Anthony enthused.

While Fox Mustangs might be the prototypical recipients for a Coyote transplant, it’s hard not to love a well-executed New Edge swap like TJ Lapinski’s. This orange beauty has run the gamut of Coyote combos and it has become an 8-second stunner.

“Well about five years ago, the Coyote engine was still kinda new and people were starting to see what it could do with a couple of mods,” TJ explained. “I remember seeing a Bullitt with the swap and thinking that’s awesome new technology in a older car. I built a Two-Valve with a 2.1-liter Kenne Bell in the car at the time. I started seeing some numbers from these Coyotes and I was thinking how nice it would be to make 400 all-motor horsepower.”

As most of us realize, the naturally aspirated life is fun at first, but then we always want more power. Apparently TJ is particularly thirsty for power as he jumped from NA to blower to turbo before finding his happy place.

“…At the time, which was about five years ago, there weren’t too many swap cars out there to figure out what parts worked and what parts we needed. So there was a lot of trial and error and waiting at Revolution Automotive. Rev took on the swap and came up with a lot of one-off parts by trying different parts, some worked and some didn’t,” TJ said. “But I couldn’t have been happier with the results. As everything came together and we were figuring what the 5.0 liked, I threw a shaved Cobra Jet manifold with Rev Auto’s 5-inch cold air. We found out it wouldn’t fit with the ’04 Cobra hood I had, so it was time to go with a 4-inch HO Fiber Trends hood to fit the new manifold.”

After stepping up to a centrifugal blower, TJ decided to really go big by turning to JPC Racingfor a turbo, an automatic transmission and a built short-block from RGR. This car is truly a serious piece.

It sat me back like no other setup I have ever had in the car. The car just pulled and pulled.—TJ Lapinski

“The car is a blast to drive. It is mainly used for quarter-mile passes now. I remember the first pass in the turbo setup at MDIR at a track rental this spring. I was nervous, just not knowing what’s going to happen and what it would feel like. So we left the boost controller off and I made a pass just on 6 to 8 psi,” TJ added. “I remember sitting at the line and it started to build boost and then I let the transbrake button go and all I remember saying is ‘Damn!’ It sat me back like no other setup I have ever had in the car. The car just pulled and pulled. To me it felt like a 7-second pass but it went 9.9s at 145. I was hooked and just wanted to turn it up more and go faster. So far this year its best pass is an 8.64 at 150 with 1.21 60-foot.”